Tufts dental clinics win national award

The Tufts Dental Facilities Serving Individuals with Disabilities (TDF), the network of dental clinics associated with Tufts University, recently won an award for Outstanding Achievement as part of the 2015William J. Gies Awards for Vision, Innovation and Achievement.

The award will be presented by the Gies Foundation on March 7-10 at a ceremony at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, according to the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). 

According to Mark Nehring, chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Service at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM), after the ADEA releases a call for Gies Award nominations, approximately 62 dental schools apply for one or more of the three categories of awards, making the whole process very competitive.

According to the ADEA's website, other institutions also being honored with one of the three categories of Gies awards include Harvard University, Drexel University, New York University, University of Michigan and University of Manitoba.

“The award is a meaningful acknowledgement for the school, faculty and staff of the dedicated work that has occurred over the past four decades,” Nehring told the Daily in an email.

TDF provides oral health care to individuals with developmental disabilities throughout Massachusetts, who would otherwise not have received standard care from other clinics. 

“As the longest-running program of its kind, and the only state-run oral health care partnership in the nation for those having special needs, [TDF] is an inspiring model for population-based care, operated by a dedicated Tufts workforce of dental health providers who have a calling to serve within communities,” Nehring said.

In the past 40 years, the lives of those with disabilities have changed dramatically, improving alongside increased legislation allowing them to reside, learn and work in settings conducive to their needs, according to Theresa Brennan, a TDF dental hygienist.

Brennan said dental hygiene has changed drastically since her completion of dental school 37 years ago. She added that TDF has given her a wide range of opportunities to work with at-risk children and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“My employment at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine has allowed me to get involved clinically, educationally and with matters of quality insurance,” Brennan told the Daily in an email.

Karen Chang-Yeh, DDS clinical director of the Tufts Dental Facility for Special Needs in Worcester, Mass. described her own experiences with patients.

“Over time, we build trust and are able to slowly accomplish our treatment goals.  We learn to adjust our expectations and gain patience, all without lowering the quality of care,” Chang told the Daily in an email.

Chang said she hoped the Gies Award would introduce the dental community to the importance of providing care for people with different needs than the general population.

“While recognition is always an honor, this is an opportunity to introduce the new generation of dental professionals to dentistry for people with special needs," Chang said. "My hope is that this will help to continue educating the dental community and, in turn, further our mission.”

According to Brennan, winning the Gies Award will hopefully spread awareness of dental hygiene and healthcare so that other professionals can become aware of the TDF program and its goals.

Both Chang and Brennan said they hope to improve dental hygiene further for the developmentally disabled population in their future work.

“I feel that nationally, dental and dental hygiene schools need to increase the time spent in education and hands on training to better prepare dentists and dental auxiliaries to become more confident in treating this population,” Brennan said.